In 2011 I decided that my year 1 maths group would enjoy looking at some maths concepts with reference to some of the great mathematicians who first discovered them - or perhaps I just decided I would enjoy it more - either way, it was pretty fun.
I created a maths passport, and stamps to glue into their passports, each time they "visited" a foreign country to learn about a new mathematician. The following list of mathematicians and places links to a page containing more information, lesson ideas and resources for each person or place.
Algebra - the term "algebra" comes from an Arabic word meaning "restoration". See more on the history of algebra page.
Leonardo da Vinci - this well known artist, scientist, inventor and mathematician can be referenced when working on length, especially metres and centimetres. The famous Vitruvian man was drawn by Leonardo and depicts (among other things) his thoughts on the proportions of the human body. See this "Vitruvian man proportions" page for more info or my Leonardo da Vinci page for more specific lesson ideas.
Leonhard Euler (pronounced "oiler") - a very famous mathematician from the 18th century, was responsible for many discoveries in maths, physics and astronomy. If you are studying 3D space, Euler's law says that the number of vertices plus the number of faces minus the number of edges is ... 2. Yep, for any polyhedron that doesn't intersect itself.
Carl Friedrich Gauss - famous for his amazing maths as a youngster - one possibly aprocryphal anecdote says that aged 7, he summed the numbers from 1 to 100 by observing a simple pattern (adding numbers in pairs at each end of the sequence gives you fifty pairs that each add to 101). This is a great anecdote for talking about mathematical thinking, especially in the context of teaching patterns.
Fibonacci (actually called Leonardo of Pisa) - the greatest European mathematician of the Middle Ages. The name Fibonacci is probably familiar because of the Fibonacci sequence, which calculates the population of rabbits as they breed. Probably more useful in primary teaching is that he spread the Hindu-Arabic numeral system in Europe - they were still using Roman numerals at the time! Also when looking at patterns, he first wrote about square numbers being the sum of odd numbers in about 1200 AD. (25 = 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9). A fun way to look at this is to have two different groups: the first do a "sum of odd numbers" worksheet, and the other make square numbers (perhaps making squares with counters) and then compare the answers - which amazingly are the same!
Blaise Pascal - famous for Pascal's triangle, which is great when teaching patterns, but also lots of work on probability and even links to the Fibonacci sequence.
Egypt - this started the whole idea of teaching maths history for me, with a lesson on "Ancient Egyptian Pyramids" that touched on 3D objects and Egyptian numerals. You might like to tour to Egypt using Google Earth, here's a
Eratosthenes - an amazing Greek mathematician from about 200BC. He was credited with calculating the circumference of the Earth quite accurately using measurements of the Sun's elevation. This could be a great link in to a Science unit.
Robert Recorde - this fellow from Tenby, Wales lived from 1510 AD to 1558 and is credited with inventing the equals sign. Prior to around the 15th century, mathematics was generally written as sentences, without algebraic notation - very tedious! He chose the two parallel lines because he said, "noe 2 thynges can be moare equalle." (according to http://www.math.wichita.edu/history/men/recorde.html).
John Wallis - an English mathematician who is credited with inventing the number line. There is a good biography at this St Andrew's University site. He is also credited with the first use of the symbol for infinity. There is a good collection of information related about his maths at this John Wallis page.
I created a maths passport, and stamps to glue into their passports, each time they "visited" a foreign country to learn about a new mathematician. The following list of mathematicians and places links to a page containing more information, lesson ideas and resources for each person or place.